St. Cloud chief defends police use of military tools

The images have played out on television in the days since Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

Police clashing with protestors, using tear gas and shows of force to try to quell protests, looting and lawlessness.

Under criticism for the shooting of Brown, police are facing additional complaints for their response to the protestors.

It has renewed a debate about the militarization of local law enforcement agencies and how much and what kinds of military surplus are necessary at the local level. And St. Cloud has found its way into the debate, 10 months after unveiling a mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle known as an MRAP.

While critics say there is no need for that type of vehicle in a city of St. Cloud's size, the city's police chief begs to differ.

"A lot of thought went into us getting the MRAP, and my staff had to prove to me that there would be some utility in us having it," said Police Chief Blair Anderson. "That's not a hard standard to meet unfortunately, because we've had occasion to use ours a few times since we got it."

The MRAP has been used at standoffs where a person with weapons is barricaded and won't come out. It's been used to serve "high-risk" search warrants where the subject is presumed armed and dangerous.

It has been used to block vulnerable targets from potential explosive devices. And it was used recently when police say a man with a history of mental illness fired shots at a Benton County deputy then fled.

The presence of the MRAP doesn't mean the St. Cloud Police Department is becoming a military organization that will load up on as much surplus as it can get, Anderson cautioned.

Other surplus from the federal government to local law enforcement has included sleeping bags, night vision equipment and firearms, among other items.

And when the federal government offers equipment that local officers need for little or no cost, it just makes sense to accept it, he said.

"We also have a fiduciary responsibility to our taxpayers, and if we can find a way to address our needs and be fiscally responsible, well, to me, that's a win-win," Anderson said.

His department was one of seven agencies in Minnesota to get MRAPs last year.

The others were sheriff's offices in Dakota, Pine, Sherburne, St. Louis, Olmsted and Wright counties.

He said the arming of law enforcement changed after a shootout in February 1997 in North Hollywood in which two armed bank robbers in body armor fired hundreds of rounds at officers pursuing them.

Protecting victims, the public and officers from criminals who have high-powered weapons and have shown they will use them requires police to at least counter that level of force, the chief said.

"There's nothing in the rule books that say we have to be outgunned," Anderson said. "And we take our responsibility very seriously. When you have people running around at large with automatic weapons and they've demonstrated they're willing to use them, we need to be able to at least match that level of force and obviously exceed it when the situation calls for it."

Local law enforcement are paramilitary organizations that mirror the military in terms of command structure and ways they complete missions, Anderson said. And police are the last line of defense between civility and chaos, he said.

But the department is not becoming a military unit, and St. Cloud won't be seeing any tanks or surplus helicopters anytime soon, he said. It's about having the right tools to get a resolution to difficult situations without injuries as often as possible, he said.

"I would challenge anyone who's never been on the business end of an automatic rifle to contest the need for something like (the MRAP)," he said. "When you've got a barricaded suspect with untold firepower, you're not going to drive up to that structure — wherever that suspect has barricaded themselves — in a normal squad car. That's just not smart, and we're not going to find resolution that way."

And of all the complaints he's had about the MRAP, there's one group from which he hasn't heard.

"I haven't had one complaint from any of the victims involved in the issues in which we've had to deploy that," he said.

Equipment for area agencies

Military surplus from the federal government to local law enforcement agencies. Numbers reflect equipment received by all law enforcement agencies since 2006 within each county, including local police departments and the sheriff's office. Counties not listed received none in that category.